Getting Ripped

abs are built in the kitchen by what you eat and not by how many crunches you do. Getting ripped is made by lifting weights. I do know this as one of my spin bike teachers is ripped. I have taken a weight lifting class with her. And yes you do need to lower your body fat%.

Ab videos and kickboxing are decent forms of exercise, but not enough to give you the results you want. If you want to be "ripped" you need real, full-body strength training. Ab videos won't give you great abs; that's what eating right and losing weight will do. Ab definition is about body fat percentage; NOT tons of core work!

1) Eat enough. High calories on training days. 2) Train hard, compound exercises and use a weight that is *heavy* and challenging where you reach muscle fatigue in 8-12 reps, move up in weight once you can do more. 3) Limit cardio (kickboxing is cardio). Do HIIT (if you're fit enough). 30 mins, 3x a week. I do calethstenics/circuit training as well. 4) Get adequate protein for muscle repair. About .5-.8g per pound of body weight. 5) Don't target tone your abs. Waste of time. They'll get enough work stabilizing your body during compound exercises.

It's very difficult to build muscle on a calorie deficit. You need enough calories to build muscle. So meal timing is vital. Burning fat requires a calorie deficit, building muscle requires a calorie surplus. They tend to be opposing goals. I managed to do it but I believe a good part of the reason is that I calorie cycle, I don't severely restrict my calories and being a bit of genetic freak (I build muscle easily) helps.

You won't see much definition until you lower your body fat % by losing weight. Fat is on top of the muscle. So if you have a high body % you won't see the muscle. You'll also have slower fat loss if your goal is to build muscle. So until you get closer to your goal weight you should concentrate on fat loss and *maintaining* lean muscle by having a proper full body strength training program 3x a week using compound exercises and a challenging weight/resistance.

Can any body tell me the best way to get ripped up?. I do an ab blast video and kickboxing 5 days a week, but is that enough? Should I do something else? Or take something? I make healthy eating choices the weight and inches are coming off but I'm not getting that definition I would like.

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